Natus rei publicae, « né pour la République »: le dies natalis d’Auguste au regard de ses précédents tardo-républicains (Pompée, César)

Voinea, Sonia
(2026) NIHIL SVB SOLE NOVVM. L’innovation dans l’Antiquité classique — ISBN: [978-2-39061-660-3], p. 43-86, published

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The public celebration of the emperor’s Dies Natalis is one of the many expressions of the Roman “imperial cult” that dates back to the reign of Augustus. Modern scholarship usually identifies Julius Caesar as a precedent in the introduction of this festival at Rome but the potential role of imperatores at the end of the Republic has been overlooked in this context. This article aims to fill this gap by examining the staging and evolution of the Dies Natalis of three political figures: Pompey, Julius Caesar and Augustus. This study highlights that the core concept of birth is also an integral part of the imperatores’ ideology of military victory and that it becomes, under Augustus, associated with the celebration of the return of peace after the civil wars. A range of different practices and discourses – including personal memoirs, architectural constructions, worships of the gods and political honors for their birthday, omens surrounding their birth and coincidence of their birthday with other significant events – convey the message that their own Dies Natalis commemorates the divine felicitas they enjoy, in order to legitimize their claims to supreme powers well beyond the institutional framework of the Roman Republic.
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Voinea, S. (2026). Natus rei publicae, « né pour la République »: le dies natalis d’Auguste au regard de ses précédents tardo-républicains (Pompée, César). In Florence Liard (ed.), NIHIL SVB SOLE NOVVM. L’innovation dans l’Antiquité classique (Presses Universitaires de Louvain, p. p. 43-86). Presses Universitaires de Louvain. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/273264